Santa Cruz County History - People

After Grandma Anthony died in May 1858, Grandpa Anthony was very
lonely. Elihu Anthony located a ranch in Blackburn Gulch. A house
was built. Grandpa A. and one of Uncle Elihu’s boys lived
in it for a while to prove up [improve] on the property. It was a
very wild country and they used to trap wild animals. Grandfather
A’s children and grandchildren decided to have a picnic at
his place. We were taken out in a wagon drawn by oxen which was
rather slow traveling. Thick woods were on each side of the road.
The young folks walked ahead of the wagon and climbed up on
stumps and sang when the team came by. We had a bountiful lunch
and spent a very happy day.

Our folks took up about eighty acres of land in Blackburn
Gulch. When they moved to this farm, I went to live with Aunt
Hannah Anthony, [33] and
attended the Grant School a short time. Miss Louisa Fernald
[Drennan] was the teacher and boarded at the Geo. Anthony home. I
helped Aunt Hannah with [her] work. In the evening I sat with
Grandfather by the fireplace in his room as he was so lonely. He
told me stories of his early life which were very
interesting.

In Aunt Hannah’s pantry there were pans of gingerbread,
baked apples, cheese, cream and milk. We used to help ourselves
to all we wanted after school. Aunt H. was a kind hearted woman
and loved by every one. Lewis A.,
[34] Miss Fernald, and I, had many jolly times together.

Adam and Sarah Gourley's
Wedding Photograph
October 11, 1866

The youngest child [35] was
badly spoiled. [He] had breakfast after the rest were gone. Aunt
H. would cook an egg for him. He would eat it and say,
'Mother, I want another."

Lewis, Miss F. and I sat up with the little Lupeer [Louis La
Pierre] child that died. We made a dress for it that night. [We]
were about eaten up by fleas. We ate the loaf of bread that Aunt
Hannah had sent to the Lupeer [La Pierre] family.

I stayed a school term at Capt. McAlmond’s. [36] He was home only once in two weeks.
Sometimes he could not land here due to bad weather, and [he] had
to take his schooner to Monterey. Mr. [Edward A.] Hazen the
Methodist minister boarded there. Mrs. [McAlmond], Mr. Hazen and
I were all Hoosiers. [37]

I stayed with Uncle Charles and Aunt Obi (Niobe) [38] for awhile and went to school. Rosa
Wager, Becky Martin and I were great friends.

I first attended a private school taught by Miss Wells in the
little white house near the west end of the Soquel Ave.
Bridge.

After that I attended Mission Hill School. The building was
plain and had one room. Later an ell was built on. It had rows of
double wooden desks [and] there was a long recitation bench.

The hill on the south [39]
was very steep and very wet in the winter time. The boys used to
slide down on sleds and often landed in the orchard at the foot
of the hill. I know it was a thrilling trip as I accepted a dare
and tried it myself. Once was enough, though I never regretted
it. [There was] no Physical Education in those days but plenty of
exercise such as ball, marbles, pump, pump pull away, teeters and
jumping rope.

Once in a while we had School Exhibitions in the schoolhouse
and the program included singing, recitations and tableaus. A
picnic was held on May first.

Charlie Perry used to attend to the ringing of the bell. We
girls used to go over to the [Methodist] church yard on Green St.
to gather poppies. Charlie often held the bell rope until we had
time to reach the building.

School [Mission Hill] was opened by reading a chapter from the
bible followed by the Lord’s Prayer by the children, and
the singing of patriotic songs. Every Friday afternoon we had a
spelling match out of Town’s Speller. We had a little
drawing. We were given pictures to copy.

The school was not graded. We took a slate, copy book, and
necessary school books to school. The teacher inquired how far we
had been in each book and placed us in classes accordingly.

I recall the following teachers who taught at Mission Hill.
Robert Desty [Daillebout]was French and a highly educated man. He
had a peculiar way of imparting his knowledge. The first class in
arithmetic was called in the morning. He would place a difficult
problem on the board. He would explain it, using a pointer. He
would then ask the class if everyone understood it. If some did
not, he would erase it with the sleeve of his alpaca coat at the
same time calling us numbskulls and no nothings. He placed it on
the board again and stayed with it until all the class
under-stood it. Then he would change to endearing names.

He was fond of sea life and on Saturdays, when there was low
tide, would take all the pupils to the beach and explain
thoroughly the wonders of the sea. On other occasions he would
close school, and take us to the beach to see a whale before it
was cut up.

The last term [that] I attended school, Professor [Thomas
Milton] Gatch was the teacher. This was during the Civil War. He
was a man that was loved by his pupils. At recess and noon we ran
down the hill to read the Bulletin Board to get the latest news
of the war.

This was before the age of bobbed hair. The girls decided to
present Mr. Gatch with a present. Every girl contributed a lock
of hair which they had woven into a watch chain. We paid $12.00
to have it gold mounted.

The girls composed a presentation speech and Sarah Fields was
selected to read it. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he accepted
it, and it was one of his most prized possessions.

I had the following teachers:

Miss [Anna M.] Wells 1856 (private school)

Miss Bacon

Miss Ann Lidell

Miss [Mary] Hill 1862

Mr. Desty [Robert Daillebout]

Mr. [Thomas Milton] Gatch 1865

Mr. Gosling

Miss Louisa Fernald - Grant School.

Mr. Bailey, C.P. [Calvin Porter Bailey]

The San Lorenzo river in town was beautiful, being very wide
and having a high bank on the east side. The sand was dotted with
lupine bushes. It was an interesting sight to see the Spanish
women washing on a plain board as they knelt by the river. They
rubbed their clothes with soap root, rinsed them, and hung them
on the lupine bushes to dry.

Due to heavy rains the river sometimes left its bed and flowed
over to what is now Pacific Avenue, and even to Shanty Flat. [40] Several pretty homes on the
west side were carried into the bay by the floods.

There were no bridges across the river except a foot bridge in
summer. A boat was sometimes used.

Front Street was the only business street. It boasted having
two hotels, The Franklin and the Santa Cruz. The Mix Butcher
Shop, with a slaughter house in the rear, occupied the site of
the present Post Office. Mix [Edward H. Mix] would call, 'You
Steve, into the corral," whenever they were going to
butcher. Old Mrs. Steen near by would come with a pan to catch
blood for a pudding.

The Cooper Brothers had a grocery and dry goods store on Front
St. The only means of delivery they had was a clothes-basket
filled with goods carried on the shoulders of an Indian.

The west side of Pacific Ave. (Willow St.) was in farms. Judge
Blackburn had an apple orchard. Where the Santa Cruz Theatre was
first built, there was a splendid spring of water and some fine
apple trees.

Elihu Anthony had the first post office and it stood where the
Mission Garage is now [Head of Pacific Ave.].

Down what is now Pacific Ave. there was a board sidewalk to
the beach. When the river flooded, it was a floppy affair on
which to walk.

Driving was permitted on the beach. It was a great place for
fine turnouts to go during the day and on moon light nights.

Schooners and steamers came to the three warves [wharves].
There were many sailing vessels. Saltpeter was brought from Chile
to be used at the powder mill.

All the Protestant denominations worshiped together in a small
church on Green Street. A little cemetery surrounded the
church.

Across from the old Mission Hill School stood the Eagle Hotel.
[41] It was a large building.
Festivals and fairs given by the churches were held in it.

There were many Spanish people on the East Side. On Sunday
morning they attended church. The women wore black dresses with a
shawl thrown over the head and the end thrown across the
shoulder. They walked very erect.

Many Indians also attended the Mission Church. The women were
attired in blue calico and black shawls. They sat on the floor in
the back of the church.

The burial ground was around the church. It was so crowded
several were buried in the same grave. This was found out when
they were later removed to the present cemetery on the Capitola
Road. [42]

The Mission was a roughly constructed one and not
architecturally beautiful. It was in a state of fair preservation
in 1856. A heavy earthquake [January 9, 1857] shook so much of it
down that it was never repaired. A stream [43] ran by the old Mission across the
plaza. In winter it was a swollen stream and flooded the upper
plaza. In the summer it was a pretty stream bordered with water
cress.

The Evergreen Cemetery [44]
is on land given to the city by Hiram Imus. He had a large farm
and raised strawberries and apples which brought a good price in
those days. I used to go to their house to play with Hattie
Imus.

The East Side was called "Greaser Town" on account
of the many Spanish people living there. The houses were board
and battened and white washed. The principal flower in the garden
was the Rose of Castile. The petals were used as a medicine.

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